This is an analysis of the poem The Shadow that begins with:

1.
A vision haunts me, love, when thou art near,... full text

Elements of the verse: questions and answers

The information we provided is prepared by means of a special computer program. Use the criteria sheet to understand greatest poems or improve your poetry analysis essay.

  • Rhyme scheme: X abab X cdcd X efef X fgfg X gcgc X hfhf X bhbh X eeee X ifif X gbgb X jaj a X ckck X hghg X glgl X gmgm X ecec Xeeee X dddd X gngn X nknk X ikik X hoho X kkkk X pbpb X gjgj X fbfb X cfcf X bebe X bfbf
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 1,4,1,4,1,4,1,4,1,4,1,4,1,4,1,4,1,4,1,4,1,3,1,1,4,1,4,1,4,1,4,1,4,5,1,4,1,4,1,4,1,4,1,4,1,4,1,4,1,4,1,4,1,4,1,4,1,4,1,4,1,4,1,4,1,4,1,4,1,4,1,4,1,4,1,4,1,4,1,4,1,4,1,4,1,4,1,4,5,1,4,1,4,1,4,1,4,1,4,1,4,1,4,1,4,1,4,1,4,1,4,1,4,1,4,1,4,1,4,1,4,1,4,6,
  • Closest metre: iambic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: sonnet
  • Guessed form: blank verse
  • Metre: 1 0101111111 10111111010 01001110111 110100110010 1 0101001101 0111101111 01010001001 0111110101 1 0111011111 0111011101 1011110101 01110111001 1 10110101011 1001110101 1101110101 1101000111 1 01100110111 0111010111 11010000101 1111110101 1 1101110101 0111000101 0111110101 1111110111 1 11110101011 01110100111 0101000111 1111111111 1 1101010101 01110110111 1111111111 1011000101 1 1001010111 11111100111 1011110101 11010001101 1 1101011101 01001010110 11001111111 1111011111 1 1111111111 1011001101 1111100101 1111110111 1 0001110111 0111110111 1110110111 1101111101 1 1101001101 1101010101 0111010101 0011101111 1 1111010101 1111010101 1111010101 0101111101 1 0101110101 0111011101 1111111111 1111010101 1 1111111101 1111010101 11111111001 1111000101 1 11011101111 1111111101 1111010101 1111111111 1 1111110111 0101011101 1111010111 0111010101 1 1111110101 11010010111 11101101101 1101110101 1 1111110111 0101110111 1100110101 1110111101 1 1111111111 0101101101 1111000101 11011111001 1 1011100111 1101111101 01011101111 11010011101 1 1101011101 1111111101 1101110111 11110011101 1 10010010101 1111010101 1001010111 0101000101 1 1101010001 1111010101 1101110111 1101111111 1 1101010101 1101111111 1101010101 1111101100 1 1101011101 1011110101 1111010101 1101011101 1 1111110011 1101011101 0111111111 1011110111 1 1111011111 1101011101 11111111001 0101010111 1 11110111010 0111011101 11011101110 0111010101 1 1101000111 0111001101 11001111101 1111011101 1 1001110111 1001010111 0111010001 1011110111 1 1101110101 11010101010 01010100111 10110101010 1 1011010111 1110111101 010010111001 1101110111 1 1101010100 1111101101 0101011111 1111101011 1 1101100001 0100101101 1101011111 1111111101 1 1011010110 11111001101 1111011111 0111111011 1 1000011101 0111110111 1001010111 1111011111 1 1111011101 1011010011 1111111100 1111010101 1 1101011111 1101010101 1111111101 0111111111 1 0111010101 1011111101 10010011010 1001001111 1 1011000101 1001010111 1001010101 1001010101 1 1101010101 1111101110 0101110011 0101110101 1 1101010001 0101001101 010111101 1100110111 1 1001000101 1111110111 0101010101 0111111101 1 10110010101 0111111111 1101010001 1111111101 1 1110100101 10111100111 10100100101 1110111111 1 1111010101 11100101111 0111010111 1111010101 1 0111010101 11010111001 0101110101 0101011101 1 1101010011 1101110111 1101110101 1111001101 1 1111110110 0111111111 1111011011 1111000101 1 0101010111 0101010101 0111010111 0111011101 1 01010111001 0111010000 0111011101 0001111111 1 0001011101 1111111101 1101110101 1111011111 1 1111010100 1111111101 11001010010 1111110111 1 11111101110 0101010101 11011111010 0101110111 1 1111010111 1101000111 0111011111 1101000111 1 1101011111 1011111001 1111011101 1111111111 1 1111011111 1101110111 1111011111 0111111101 1 1101111101 1011010101 1111010111 1101011101 1 0111011101 1101011101 1111110000 1111010101 1 0111010101 0111110101 10111100111 1101110111 1 1101011001 1111010110 1011011111 1111101111
  • Amount of stanzas: 125
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 90
  • Average number of words per stanza: 17
  • Amount of lines: 372
  • Average number of symbols per line: 30 (strings are less long than medium ones)
  • Average number of words per line: 6
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; it, in, no, for, i, and, we, thy, to, of, thee, my, me, keep are repeated.

    The poet used anaphora at the beginnings of some neighboring lines. The same words it, what, there, the, because, no, not, thy, and, think, wanting, to, shall, be, keep are repeated.

If you write a school or university poetry essay, you should Include in your explanation of the poem:

  • summary of The Shadow;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Ada Cambridge